^^ Gem's eyes, and Caleb's ^^ when he Warg's into his Familiar's minds and uses their eyes and senses.

Eh? Eh? Any GOT fans? Eheh:-) Srynotsry.

--- 22 days AD ---

I sat with the three different trophies I'd taken. A feather from a canary I'd caught in my leopard form, a small Snakes skin, also killed by my feline form, and a whole fish, which I'd caught in my human form.

I reached deep inside myself for the words, and smiled when they came easily. "Take these trophies, and give me a familiar." I intoned in the language I found. I grinned when I realized it was Cajun French.

They all rolled into one ball, and I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Oh shit... I misspoke..." I sighed.

Tern shook his head. "It's working, I just don't know what it's making... What do you get when you mix a snake, a bird, and a fish?"

"A dragon?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "A What?"

Sandi laughed. "I think I know what you mean, it's a winged snake, breaths fire?" She asked.

I nodded. "Yes."

The ball of clay molded itself suddenly, and cracked open, like an egg. A baby dragon spilled out, and I picked it up, grinning.

It snorted smoke, and I laughed, tickling it. I set it down. "Welcome to the world, Gem." I noticed her eyes, and hummed. They looked like the sun, but in black and white.

She looked and Sandi, and I swear she giggled. She blew a smoke ring that turned into a heart, and then she winked and pointed her tiny talons in a little wannabe-cowboy click, and it lit into thousands of tiny sparks that melted away quickly.

Sandi laughed, and I smirked. "Adorable... Now what's a fully grown dragon look like, I wonder?" I asked, and silently willed her to go outside and shift.

She obediently trotted out of the door, and started flying upwards. Suddenly there was a Deafening 'BOOOM!!!' As she expanded instantaneously, pushing the air away from her like a lightning strike.

She landed softly, her giant body as light as a feather, despite being least 250 meters long, and then she tilted her enormous head at me. I laughed. "You're amazing, Gem. Now if you'd get a lot smaller, maybe around Pepe's size?"

She obediently shrank, and climbed onto my other shoulder, across from Pepe, my kitten familiar.

He sniffed her, and rubbed his head against her neck. They made nice, and I hummed. "Okay. So I know the formula for a dragon now. But I still need those three different animals... I'll do them one at a time, then. Probably should have from the beginning."

"Probably." Tern agreed.

I started off for more materials.

---

I sat down, and breathed slowly. I held a small pile of feathers and bones from another songbird I'd taken great pleasure in throttling. It emitted a horrendous screeching sound every few seconds at night, and I wasn't used to it.

I set my incantation, and said it clearly. The pile melted, rolling into a claylike consistency, and then a bird cracked from an egg. It was a small bird I didn't know the name of yet. I grinned. "I've got a special Job for you, Gambit." I picked him up.

I almost expected an answer. I shook my head. "I need you to turn into a Roc, go up into orbit, and fly around the entire world, mapping it for me, and also the Moons, of course. And if you can manage to get to the other two planets, that'd be great. Go on." I pushed upwards.

He leapt and started flying, and then shifted with another deafening Crack into a Roc, a 200 meter wingspan red and white bird of legendary proportions, and finally started flying away.

Tern looked at me. "Wow. Alright then. I didn't know that was possible."

"It isn't. Roc don't exist in this plane of Existence. In other words, your Familiar's cannot become something that doesn't exist. Dragons and Rocs are extinct where I'm from, but they exist." I shrugged.

He nodded. "I see. A nice little job."

---

I sat on the riverbank a few minutes later, and snatched a fish. I killed it with a twist, and then chanted my spell. It melted in my hands, and then turned into a fish egg. I placed it in the water, and it hatched.

"Hello, Steve. I need you to map and chronicle the oceans of this planet for me. Every plant, every animal, every rock, every single living or dead thing. Go on." I shoo'ed him. He shifted into a larger fish, and started swimming off.

I felt him hit the open ocean, and he shifted into a Megaladon. I laughed and nodded. "Alright, then. Next is a snake."

---

"Hello, Frey. Your mission is to map the world from the ground, cataloging every single cave, crevice, and everything else that Gambit can't see from the air. Go." I petted her diamond patterned skin, and she slithered off.

I was about to return to the village when I saw a monkey, watching me with curious eyes. I smiled, and then raised a hand. It gently leapt into my hand, and I pet it's hair, before snapping it's neck.

I quickly made a familiar from its fur, and then smiled. "Hello James." I said to the tiny monkey.

He blinked at me.

"I have a special mission for you. I want you to follow my scent back from the village to where I was attacked by the Leopard, a month ago. And then I want you to track me through the jungle as best you can, and see if you can find the Rift I fell through to get into this dimension. My tracks are probably gone, but It's somewhere in this forest. If you find it, alert me mentally, and I'll have further instructions. Go." I said.

James turned into a chimpanzee and slung off into the forest.

I returned to the village, and set about teaching Sandi's adopted son how to dance the Capioera. I showed him, by using it to kick a small tree down, that it was actually for fighting, and he was gung-ho about it immediately.

I set the beat for him, and Gem kept it going, while we danced/trained. Sandi was a bit worried when I started teaching him, but after seeing how much he enjoyed it, she allowed it.

I continued until he got tired, and told him to continue to practice even after I was gone. I left with the Eye to the capital in a few days.

--- 25 Days AD, day of Departure ---

I snapped awake, breathing roughly. James had found the Rift.

I commanded him to dive in, and felt the coldness again. I shivered, and nodded. "Perfect... Show me." I said quietly, and looked into his eyes.

I saw Jungle, in the middle of the day. Jungle I recognized. I smiled, and made James run forward, climbing a tree quickly. He reached the canopy, and went up, to the very top.

I spotted a metropolis, about 70 miles away to the north, and nodded. "Okay... There's New Delhi... That means... Sami's dojo is in that direction." I turned in the right direction and started leaping across treetops.

---

I finally reached the edge of the forest, and hesitated. Then I muscled through it. I walked into the dojo, and Sami was performing her forms, clearly overworking herself.

I shifted James into a capuchin, and sat on her weapons rack. "Hello, Sami." I said clearly.

She froze and looked around, eyes searching. When they found James, I grinned. "Yes, the monkey. His name is James. I'm... Possessing him, so to speak. Not that I'm a ghost or anything, but I'm basically possessing him. Hi." I made him wave sarcastically.

She blinked. "Uhm..."

--- two hours of explanations later ---

"So, here's a question. Why haven't you come back? You found the Rift." She asked.

"I want to learn about this world. And besides, it's not polluted, it's not dying, and a thousand things that are here that aren't, there. It'd be perfect if you were here too, but I can't ask you to leave your home, so maybe I'll come visit in a few months?"

"While all of that is true, Why is that last thing a question?" She asked.

"I don't know where I'll be. Keep James around, though. He doesn't eat much, being made of magic. That still sounds awesome. Magic. Ha. I have to wake up now, but we can talk any time with James there as the Middle-Monkey." I chuckled.

She smiled. "Fine. Contact me again soon."

"Sure thing." I cut the connection, after tasking James with protecting Sami and her family forever.

I opened my eyes again, and Sandi was looking down at me. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"I was inside James, my Monkey Familiar. He managed to find the Rift, and go through it. He was talking to Sami." I smiled. "So yes. I feel amazing. Let's get going on this Road Trip!" I whooped in joy, revitalized with the knowledge that I could get to my home easily enough, and now I wasn't trapped here, I was here to learn.

She smiled. "Well then, a call home sure lifted your spirits! Good! Here, a week's rations. I don't know how long it'll take you to get to the Capitol, but there you go." She said, setting a bag on the bed.

I nodded and dressed, lacing my boots tightly, and then stretching. I checked my weapon, and then walked out after saying goodbye.

The 'Eye' stood there already, tapping his foot impatiently. Before I could say anything, he spoke sharply. "We've kept the Emperor waiting almost a month, now, so let's go, quickly."

I nodded. "Okay. Want a ride?" I asked, silently commanding Gem to shift to her fully grown form.

She flew upwards and shifted, crouching next to us in the clearing. I mounted her neck, and he hesitantly followed. "Lead the way, mister Eyes." I chuckled, and commanded Gem to take off.

---

"There, that's the Capitol... This is the fastest I've ever reached it from a fringe county." He hummed.

It'd taken four hours. We moved at about the speed of a jet airliner, so that gave me a sense of perspective for the size of the planet.

Gravity on Terra, or 'New World' as I called it, was precisely 9.8 meters per second, despite size differences. The moons had gravity upwards, and the planet, while bigger than Earth, was also surrounded by satellites that lessened its gravity slightly.

We touched down in a courtyard, and Gem shifted into her smaller form, crawling into my jacket next to Pepe. The Eye patted himself down, and then held up his sigil for the many approaching guards, who leveled spears at us.

They relaxed while he explained that he was here to show a new Mage to the emperor.

I cracked my neck, and straightened my clothes, then looked at him. "Can we move on with this?"

He nodded and began leading me to the emperor's throne room.

---

The emperor was actually a pretty chill, laid back dude, despite my worries. He welcomed me to his empire, (after I explained that I was from far away), and then after I demonstrated my magic, he told me I was free to attend his college, and that seemed to be the extent of it.

Some paperwork was done to legally proclaim me a noble, and badabing I was a lord.

The college was part of the Capital, so I set off to find it, grinning at everything I saw. It was all new, but reminiscent. It looked like the market in Marrakech, with bright splashes of colors everywhere, and spices and wares being sold.

The things being sold caught my attention as well, of course. They featured a variety of magical items and totems, easily distinguishable. Any Mage could feel the magic in them, and tell what it was meant to do, even one as untrained as I.

I went into a gambling den, and sat around, learning the games, for about two hours. Then I started to play, after picking a man's pocket for a handful of silver coins, losing at first, to allay suspicion. Then I started winning.

After a while, they wanted me to leave, and so I did. I found the bank that the Eye had pointed out, and created an account as 'Lord Caleb Johnson'. I kept five of the pieces of silver, and went out again, and again.

Soon, my face was known throughout the cities gambling places, and I had amassed what I viewed as a small fortune in silver. Apparently silver was as common here as Aluminum was on Earth, so Platinum was the real 'Gold Standard'.

I entered a more respectable gambling house in the upper circle of the city, to find them playing with Gold Coins. 100 silver was a single Gold, so I had made the correct choices, carrying five golden pieces.

I introduced myself, and was allowed access. I sat down at a table, and grinned.

---

I was eventually asked politely to leave, and I whistled 'Jolly Good Fellow', taking my winnings to the bank. The teller raised an eyebrow, but counted my winning and tallied it up to 7 Platinum pieces. I took five with me, and went out again.

---

I was no longer allowed into any gambling houses. My quickly amassed fortune of 50,136 platinum 'Koi' and 87 Frei was enough to make the gamblers very suspicious of me, but after proving I wasn't cheating, they couldn't do much.

My amassed fortune was en ratio to about 50 billion, 136 Million, and 870 thousand US Dollars, by my calculations, from the apparent rarity of Platinum and its current status as a currency.

I relaxed in a small hotel, after depositing everything but 5 silver Fein into my account, and went to sleep satisfied. It'd taken a few days, but I was rich again.